The Black Wolves by Elliott Kate

Author:Elliott, Kate [Elliott, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Fiction / Action & Adventure, Fiction / Romance / Fantasy, Fiction / Fantasy / Epic
Publisher: Orbit
Published: 2015-11-03T08:00:00+00:00

32

Lifka had never expected to find herself pressed against a wall forced to listen while the king argued with his son the prince in a language she couldn’t understand. A pleasant woodcutting journey into the skirts of the Wild with Papa seemed like the best thing in the world right now, the mules plodding in their patient way, the dogs eager with their happy faces, and she and Papa talking about anything that came into their thoughts. She didn’t want or need palaces.

The Runt whined. She clamped a hand over his muzzle as movement along the wall caught her eye. A boy slithered along the shadows behind the colonnade, trying to approach without alerting the arguing nobles. The long formal robe he wore looked strange on a lad that age who, as Mum would say, ought to be running about freely in a kilt like an ordinary child. The extraordinary shimmering shine of the silk impressed her, as did the spray of freckles on his pale cheeks.

Old Captain Kellas of Plum Blossom Clan stood in the shadows, obscured by a pillar. When he had arrived in Toskala she did not know. He caught the boy’s sleeve, pried the child’s hand open to look at the object the boy was clutching, then released him. The boy wriggled along the wall and pressed this object into Lifka’s hand: It was flat and round.

Beside her, Tarnit stiffened. Lifka looked over to see the king had placed a hand on his jeweled dagger, about to draw a blade on his own son. The hells! She had a dog muzzled with one hand and a mysterious object clutched in the other when what she really needed was to unsling her staff to protect herself and, perhaps, the king.

But the king did not unsheathe the knife even though Prince Tavahosh spouted mocking words, a strutting cock crowing in all its finery of self-regard. When the king abruptly dismissed the prince, the young man stalked off in such a temper that Lifka could practically smell the fumes of his anger—but not before he stared directly at Lifka to remind her he’d not forgotten her defiance.

Captain Kellas whispered in the mysterious boy’s ear and the child ghosted after the prince like a tiny spy. Evidently the boy was a servant to be ordered around despite being dressed in silk her clan could not afford even if it saved every string of vey earned for ten years.

That’s what it meant to be rich.

The Runt wiggled impatiently in the harness she had rigged for him at her chest. Her hand was starting to ache from gripping his muzzle, so she let go. Immediately he barked in protest, as if to say Why do you treat me so discourteously?

Startled by the sound, the king turned.

“What are these two reeves doing here?” he demanded in the Hundred language.

He noted Tarnit with a brief nod, as if he recognized her, but he took his time examining Lifka. Indeed, his gaze jumped from her face down to her tightly laced vest.

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